18 August 2016

Today is the day for our August Edition of #PassTheScopeEDU and we're excited to make it happen! It's been a crazy wild for me in the last couple of week with me accepting and starting a new job, but I'm excited to be back with my #PassTheScopeEDU crew and hope you'll join us today. Our theme for August is "What did you learn this Summer and how will you use it this year." This is such an excellent topic as school is about to get started because it can help us remember all the amazing things we learned and hopefully help you to also remember some of the amazing things you learned as well.

But what is it and how do I take part? #PassTheScopeEDU is an event where educators use Periscope to create a live broadcast (called a Scope) and share their thoughts. Each person participating will be using their own Periscope account and those of us following along will use Periscope to follow and watch their scope wherever we want, making #PassTheScopeEDU a truly personalized PD opportunity.

For our #PassTheScopeEDU event, we're gonna keep each scope live stream to about 5-10 minutes. When the first person finishes their scope they will tell you who is next up and what their Periscope user information is so you can go watch the next part. This continues until the last person finishes and the event ends. We didn't invent the idea of #PassTheScope, but we are very excited to do another one and share some great educational ideas.

If you are more of an auditory learner, check out this great episode of the Hack Learning Podcast by Mark Barnes, who is also participating in this month's edition of #PassTheScopeEDU. It's a great explanation that is short enough you can listen just about anywhere.

Who is involved and when are the times? Often a #PassTheScope event happens all at once, back-to-back, but we are going to do it a little different and have people throughout the day so feel free to jump in whenever you have time. The schedule and lineup are below:

Come join us for #PassTheScopeEDU and don't forget to follow each of these amazing educators on Twitter and Periscope! Also, if you follow the #PassTheScopeEDU on Twitter at @PassTheScopeEDU you'll see reminder tweets so you don't have to worry about when the next scoper is starting. And remember, if you watch, feel free to give lots of hearts because we love you!

I've had a pretty amazing and busy last couple of weeks that have kept me from writing here like I'd like to do. Not that that's any real excuse, but this may actually be a decent reason for why I've been absent for so long. While I spent a lot of time traveling and enjoying family time this summer, I had a life-changing event occur that has left me feeling very excited and nervous all at the same time.

My new home, SEDC!

As of August 1st, 2016, I am no longer a classroom teacher. I've left my post as a 5th grade teacher working with some of the most amazing educators in the state of Utah, if not the entire country, in order to accept the position of Technology Director of Southwest Educational Development Center (SEDC) in Southern Utah. While I have been working on my Administrative Endorsement to work in the area of Educational Leadership, this is a position that is kind of a dream come true! I get to work with some of the best educational technology integrationists and network specialists along with an outstanding Autism Specialist, the most organized office manager and kindest director you could ask for, it's like I'm dreaming here!

While I will miss my time working directly with amazing students and their very patient parents, I look forward to working with teachers to help them in their quest to become the best educators around! I will be working with the six Southwestern counties/school districts in the beautiful state of Utah! I've already spent time in five of the districts and I can't wait to work with each of the 100+ schools in my region.

While I haven't done the best of job explaining my new position here, I recently had the chance to appear as the guest host for the #HouseOfEdTech podcast with my pal Chris Nesi last week. In that episode, Chris had me explain all about my new position and the process it took for me to apply for and ultimately get the job. You should consider heading over to ChrisNesi.com/67 and listen to Episode 67 of his excellent podcast #HouseOfEdTech. In fact, if you aren't already subscribed to the #HouseOfEdTech then you should correct that mistake and subscribe to one of my absolute favorite podcasts around. Chris produces a great new episode every two weeks and in it you will find excellent tips and tricks that you can "listen to today and use tomorrow." Thanks Chris for letting me come on the show and share my good news!

So, to recap, I have accepted a new position as the Technology Director of SEDC in Southwestern Utah, leaving the classroom after a wonderful eight years working with students. While I'll miss it, I'm already loving the new gig and look forward to all the new things I will learn. I also appeared as the guest host of Episode 67 of #HouseOfEdTech with Chris Nesi. Go ahead and have a listen at ChrisNesi.com/67.